Reading & Writing

I have been thinking of getting back into the having of reading and writing again. It's been a long I didn't write anything. I am missing writing part of Shiblee. Somebody once told me the best way to write a journal is "write as if nobody is reading." I don't know what is the purpose of writing if there is no one to read but it seems like a good idea for blogging.

I have not read any single book in last six months! That's terrifying. When I look back and how did I not miss reading? I couldn't come up with the answer. I think my living room is stealing a fair share of my time. I am not a TV person but still I spend a good part of the day in front of it. Not watching tv but all sorts of random crap; and there youtube too! Which is the television of new generation. 

What do I do then? 1) Read random crap, 2) Watch random youtube videos, 3) Check smart phones, 4) Play games, 5) Family time, 6) Household maintenance, 6) Cooking, etc. Let's see, "Read random crap"? I don't consider it reading. It is probably pseudo-reading, it gave me the fulfillment of being on the bleeding edge but in reality it is full of shit. And most of it is not useful at all. Now that online publishing is super easy, anybody and everybody (including me) can have their own publisher and publish all sorts of garbage. There is not much point in spending time on those.

"Watch random youtube crap" This is the age of internet and youtube is a great way to learn things. But in reality very few of them has any depth at all. I am not all against them but I think I should be seriously limit my time on those. "Check smartphone" is the disease of our generation. I don't know what other people do on their smart phone when they check it, but 95% I do nothing useful. And the useful parts are shattered all over the places. Smartphone saves out time by making live easy but snitched all those time by hyper context switching. I need be more diligent about this smart devices, I feel like they are out-smarting myself. 

"Playing games" - this is the new thing. In last few weeks I spend a fair amount of time playing games. I am not sure which category it belongs to but compared other three I think it is better use of time. I consider rest are useful and super good use of time. Some of them actually made me learn things and solve problems. It seems like I need to cut down my "chaotic use of device time" into more consolidated effective use. I want to go back my habit of reading and writing again. No more random crap.

Get back on the saddle

I have just realized why I don't have anything to write. It is because I don't do anything public. All are corporate proprietary stuff :( I would like to talk about stuff but that would require writing a document, send the draft, get the clearance, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, let's talk about personal life.

I picked up biking after a long period of time. I think all credit goes to Hasib. He was talking about the biking last year and I was kind of convinced that I should do it. But then I came to Seattle and looking for right bike and wait, wait and wait. Finally this year I decided, you know what, I am gonna get one, no matter what. So I got a pretty basic bike from Schwinn.

It is a network hybrid, nothing fancy but I am loving ride. Seattle is one of the bike friendly city, may not be comparable to Portland but lot of people ride bike here. I guess that might have some influences too. Anyway, I almost forgot how fun biking was. I am enjoying every moment of it. I am hoping it will bring back some part of fitness. My fitness is really struggling. I have sort of abused my body for so many years. Its no wonder my fitness is fighting back. Biking is my first tiny step on the way of reclaiming my fitness. I hope someday I will reclaim all of its glory.

I am also planning to upgrade to clipless pedal sometime next week. Let's see how that goes. I have heard that you to fall at least once when you start using clipless. I hope my fall will not be too damaging. I am hoping this will boost my ride a little. I am pretty excited about my new biking venture.

New York

New York this time! New York, the capital of the world! I have been in new York before, it seems too busy last time. But I would definitely like to stay there for some time. New York has a lot common with Dhaka. The streets are too busy always happening. It is probably the most cosmopolitan city. But certainly yiu can feel Dhaka, even in Manhattan. There is always something to see, at least people on the street. What I like most about new York is its business. Some how everyone is running all the time. Settle is nice and busy but it is no way comparable to new York. The streets of New York are flavorful. Seattle on the hand is monotonous. However the scenic of Seattle is a second to none.

Waiting at the gate. Airport is dreadful place. I hate airport. Somehow airport makes me feel so bad that my face remains pale two days before and after any travel. Anyway, let see what's waiting for me in new York this time.

Chronicle of a Mundane Life!

My poor blog, it feels like I ditched you. Somehow, I feel like I am loosing my ability to write anything. I was never been a great writer but I used to post a few every month. I was super infrequent in last month. I feel like I cannot write anymore. I know it is a practice; the more I would do, the better I would become in posting. Am I too busy? Not really. I have plenty of spare time but it became increasingly difficult to get something done in those spare time. I have started couple of books and stopped in the middle of all of those. I have some ideas to work on, but could not make enough time to concentrate on those. I have one more paper to finish but hard to write even a single word. I think I should take control of everything again! I think Lipa's absence is pronounced in every steps in my life. I guess she has way more influence on me than I can think of. I should get her here in Seattle as soon as possible.

Sunday morning

I am sitting in my patio in this beautiful Sunday morning. Everything is so calm and quiet. Westlake is not a busy neighborhood. People live in this area are very quiet. I have little bit of lake view and gentle breeze coming from the lake. The water also looks calm and quiet. Everything together makes the perfect tranquil Sunday morning.

Sundays are always notable to me. Back home it was a lazy day. I remember we always ran out of work on Sundays. When I first moved in Norman, Sundays were horrible. It always comes with the empty feeling and homesickness. Then I moved with lipa, Sundays were our personal time. We spend most of time watching movie or entirely doing nothing. And now after five days of work, Saturdays are usually taken care of some exotic plan. That left the Sundays for relaxing. The tranquility of Westlake added little more spice to that. I am enjoying this beautiful Sunday morning.

Summer Solstice Parade

I went to the Fremont Solstice Parade yesterday. Something new, something interesting. How it is different from other parades I have attended before; mainly costumes and probably this is first time I am attending any parade during the daylight. I don't remember if we had any parade in Oklahoma in daylight. Since, it is a day time event, it is a superb opportunity for photography. It is so colorful. My only complain is, not all participants are up to mark. But I was amazed to learn that, they deliberately avoid any kind of advertisement or sponsorship. That's kind of big deal :) And of course the solstice cyclist! They were new and interesting.

New apartment

Finally, I moved to my new apartment. It's nice. It is tiny but big enough for myself. It is really difficult to stay alone now, I become so much habituated to have lipa around. It feels like something is missing, something is not right. It is not like we always spend time together, but now that she is gone I kind of always looking for her. It seems like I have nothing to do alone at home.

If you ever live together with somebody else, you would know; when he or she is not at home it seems like the other one does not know what to do. Time seems like a burden. I guess I better learn to live alone again. New life, new beggining.

Washington Life

First week was pretty crazy. I had to cope with everything. Moving from a campus town in Oklahoma to the heart of the downtown of a big west coast city was quite shocking. And then start working for a corporation is a big jump as well. I think I enjoyed my first week. It was lot of work though. I am still working hard to cope up with everything. The transportation is driving me little crazy though. I can't drive because usually it takes about 30 minutes to park the car. I can ride the bus, but it is somehow not working very well for me because of road work.

My office environment is quite nice. I kind of enjoying it. People are interesting and cool. I met lot of cool people, I think my experience gonna be great. BTW, this is the last thing I am saying about my office. Unfortunately I am not allowed to write about it; well I am allowed but, there is a chance that might cause security breach. And so I have decided not to blog at all.

Washington is a beautiful state. Tons of places to go. I guess once I fix everything and get used to Washington life, I would have lots of places to go. Let's see how everything goes for me in future. The interesting thing about Washington is the road signs/instructions are on the top of silhouette of George Washington.

Apartment hunting

Yesterday was our apartment hunting day. Apartment hunting in Seattle is very different from apartment hunting in Norman/Hazelwood. I accompanied some of friends to find their apartments back in Norman. We did the apartment hunting in Hazelwood last week. It was significantly different in Seattle. Or maybe I never looked for apartments in the center of the downtown. Finding apartments in the center of the downtown is a perilous task.

The first thing I noticed was I had make an appointments in order to get a tour. That was something new to me. And the property managers usually don't have any office unless the complex is really big. Property managers have no intention to sell their apartments, somehow all of them are in high demand. Parking is a mess. Find a suitable parking is somewhat comparable to the conquest of troy.

Driving in downtown Seattle is a nightmare. The roads are hilly. I am not familiar with their street sign and two sides of a street are always filled up by parked vehicles. It was a pretty hectic day. Apartments are very expensive. I have seen 430 sqft studio apartment with the price tag of 1650$/month. But I have to say, they know how to design a studio. Some of the studios are so well designed that it feels like everything is in separate room. The most important part is they are neat. In general, Seattle is a pretty neat city.

I hope I'll find something by today. Not that I'm in hurry but I want to wrap things up by this memorial day weekend.

Emerald City

Finally, I am in Seattle, WA. It would be my new home for next couple of years. People like me who don't have permanent address, our home floats around with us. I am lucky, Seattle is a beautiful city for being home. We have reached last night. I was quite a shock for me: the way I was treated in Seattle. After being a graduate student for so long I almost forgot that I have any importance at all. Amazon treated us well since yesterday. I picked up my car from VIP car lounge where five other cars were sitting there to be my ride. And then got a place in the middle of the downtown on sixth floor with immaculate furniture and wooden floor.  That was quite a treatment. I think Seattle would take a good care of me.

We had burger last night. The place we had burger was not that expensive but they charge five cents for ketchup! That was something new. I think people would take it as a joke if somebody starts asking money for ketchup in Oklahoma. Life is different here. I think I am gonna get an apartment in the middle of the downtown as well. I wanna see embrace the busy life next.

Norman to Seattle! It was quite a shock. Everything is slow and flat in Norman. Seattle is quite opposite. People are busy, lands are hilly and tranquility is a dream. This is a new america, totally unknown to me. Goodbye my Oklahoma life. I hope I would be able find a new home here in this beautiful Emerald city.